Vision Wellness in the Workplace

Prevent Blindness America (PBA) has marked March as Workplace Vision Wellness Month. The purpose of this directive is to educate businesses and their workers about the necessity of eye health, including safety tips on how to prevent vision-impairing eye mishaps.

Every day, employees suffer from job related eye injuries that demand the attention of an eye care professional or doctor. Workplace safety experts and doctors say that the two most common reasons that employees get eye injuries is because they fail to use anything to protect their eyes or they are taking the wrong sorts of safety measures.

Common Types of Eye Injuries Most often, eye injuries that take place in the work environment are a result of flying particles or falling objects such as dust, concrete, metal or wood that can enter or scratch the eye. Chemical splashes, fumes and radiation can also scorch and seriously injure the sensitive eye tissues.

Protection for your Eyes

Your eye doctor is trained to assist you to determine potential eye dangers at work and determine the best sort of eye safety for you.

Often, workplaces have multiple risks for eyes and finding the right eye protection must consider all possible risks.
People working with chemicals need to wear goggles, while if you work in a place where you encounter flying objects or particles, choose safety glasses that have shields along the sides too.
For those who work near dangerous radiation when welding, using lasers, or fiber optics demands the use of special-purpose safety glasses, goggles, face shields, or helmets made specifically for your kind of work.

Healthy Screen Vision

Working at computers or using mobile and hand held devices can also be harmful for your sight. Due to the prevailing use of computers in everyday life, these dangers are becoming increasingly prevalent.

Here are some suggestions to avoid eye strain and visual discomfort when working on a computer or using a hand held device:

Implement the 20-20-20 rule which will allow your eyes periodic rest. At every 20 minute interval look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. If you're using a hand-held device, make the font bigger so you'll be able to use it at a distance more comfortable for your eyes.

In addition try to keep the brightness of your monitor to a comfortable resolution and position your screen right under eye level to be less of a strain on your eyes. You should also speak to your eye doctor about computer glasses.

If you have further questions relating to vision care in the workplace, please contact us today!